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Verma, S.K. --- "The Doha Declaration and Access to Medicines by Countries Without Manufacturing Capacity" [2010] ELECD 459; in Correa, M. Carlos (ed), "Research Handbook on the Protection of Intellectual Property under WTO Rules" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Protection of Intellectual Property under WTO Rules

Editor(s): Correa, M. Carlos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847209047

Section: Chapter 18

Section Title: The Doha Declaration and Access to Medicines by Countries Without Manufacturing Capacity

Author(s): Verma, S.K.

Number of pages: 50

Extract:

18 The Doha Declaration and access to
medicines by countries without
manufacturing capacity
S.K. Verma


1. Introduction
Ever since the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) came into force on 1 January 1995, it has not steered clear of
controversies, which have become more frequent in the last few years.
Developing countries and certain groups within the industrialized nations
have argued that the rules needed reform. The Agreement, which sets
out detailed international law on patent rights, has been criticized for
making medicines and other essential products unnecessarily expensive
in poor countries, thereby undermining the public health priorities and
national development goals of these countries. Accessibility to essential
drugs was an issue at the time of negotiation of the TRIPS Agreement as
well. However, the access to patented medicines debate is part of a larger
debate relating to the value of the entire intellectual property regime. The
debate had commenced in the early stages of negotiation of the TRIPS
Agreement. Its opponents treated it with concern, suspicion and scepti-
cism; others approached it with anticipation and optimism. Opponents
claimed that developing countries do not reap equal benefits from the
regime and that they are harmed by the stringent system of intellectual
property protection that is embodied in the TRIPS Agreement and the
subsequent bilateral agreements comprising TRIPS-plus provisions.1 In
this endeavour, developing countries are viewed as consumers rather
than partners, which is evident in the case of the big pharmaceutical
corporations.2


1
Lee G. ...